A Day Out at Mountfichet Castle

The summer holiday is in full swing, we all wanted to see a big castle! I am a big fan of history and I really love sharing my passions with my children. Kai and I had actually gone to Mountfichet Castle when he was younger and Amelia had spent weeks talking about how she wanted to go at the time, so this felt like a great time to take everyone. Mountfichet Castle has a lot going on – there is the castle and all of the animals around it, then there is a toy museum on the edge of the property, as well as a dinosaur area and a haunted house walk through the toy museum – it’s just a lot.

The Castle

When we set off to Mountfichet Castle, the main thing we wanted to see was the castle itself. There are a bunch of animals dotted around the castle grounds, so we grabbed some animal feed and started off on our walk. The castle ground is quite big with many different areas set up to tell you how the castle use to run and work. There are set up areas with activated voice recordings of people who are talking to you as if you really live in the castle. Climbing large towers, we ended up discovering helmets to try on and seeing great views. There is a scavenger-type hunt as well at the castle, giving the kids hints as to what area they need to go to to stamp. At the end of the day, these were traded in for sweets as rewards, which was very yummy.

We really enjoyed many of the interacting bits at the castle; there was a mill that you can rotate, which use to grind grains and there was a archery area where you can pull back on a rope to fire a bit of metal to a shield, making a big noise! We spent far too much time trying to get to the shield, as everyone tried really hard to hit it but it seemed mainly for adults. Jupiter really loved all of the little animals wandering around as well, from pygmy goats to ducks, following around and waiting to be fed.

Dinosaur Walk

Once we had spent a while around the castle, we started moving towards the Toy Museum, but ended up instead walking along dinosaurs! Jupiter was taken by surprise when she walked through the door and was instantly sprayed, something all of the kids thought was super funny, as they moved through behind her. Kai, Amelia and Robin spent some time brushing sand off of bones and looking at the dinosaurs before we moved onto the Toy Museum. This was a small walk, but it was quite interesting and I liked it.

Toy Museum & Haunted Walk

The Toy Museum was ever-packed with items! There are section after section of old toys and items that are creamed into every area of this entire museum. It’s quite an odd thing to have in the middle of Mountfichet Castle, but it was still fun to explore. Our scavenger hunt did include the toy museum, so it was apart of the experience. There is just a lot of different cars, coin machines, a Lego area, and so much more inside this Toy Museum. The kids found found house mirrors absolutely funny, and they kept standing near it, laughing. They now have a Haunted Walk within the Toy Museum, that you do need to purchase a ticket too. This area seems like someone bought everything to do with Halloween and put them into a dark alley. We assumed the children might find this a bit scary, but Robin really loved the haunted walk and kept talking about how it was her favourite. We had brought her Fingerling dragon, which glowed in the black light and impressed everyone. Amelia got to be at the front with a lantern, so she felt quite happy during the walk.

Mountfichet Castle is a really well rounded day out, a bit of history, a bit of walking and seeing animals, a toy museum, and even a haunted walk! I am very happy I could take Amelia and Robin this time, and Kai seemed to really enjoy being back again.

You can check out our other Days Out to see what else we’ve been up too!